• Just what has happened, we asked, to the controversial £9,000 painting of Ian Blair that disappeared from its rightful place alongside other past commissioners of the Metropolitan police? Conspiracy theories about the missing masterwork abound, heightened by the knowledge that Lord Blair was not much loved when he was pushed aside by London mayor Boris Johnson. Was this the final indignity? We promised to find out. And the answer from Scotland Yard is that they have been forced to take the painting into protective custody. Vulnerable to accidents or perhaps to the whims of the malicious, it needs a covering, officials say. Thus, it will be missing for a few more weeks. But here's the thing. While most of the portraits of commissioners, from Robert Peel to Lord Blair's predecessor Lord Stevens, have glass coverings of different descriptions, the portrait of Lord Condon, who stepped down in 2000 and survived the turbulence of the Stephen Lawrence inquiry, has no apparent covering and yet would appear to have survived the years unmarked and untroubled. But then, few there speak ill of him.

• The grim reaper arrives, meanwhile, and his name is Jeremy Hunt, the culture secretary, whose libertarian instincts compel him to liberate his staff from continuing employment. He gathered all the staff together at Westminster Central Methodist Hall on Tuesday, as we disclosed. It wasn't much of a party. Seventy of them to get the heave-ho by next April, from a total of 500, with more falling to the axe in the following months, halving staff numbers by 2013. The only saving grace for some is that they will be needed for the Olympics. Sir Humphrey and the like will be the first to go, for they command the biggest salaries, but underlings can expect to be scythed down later. Horror at every turn. Whatever happened to the department of fun and games?

• And as Labour's historic gathering draws to a close, the union barons are in confident mood. No surprise then that, hearing of a huge workers' demonstration in Belgium yesterday, activists were keen to leave the cocoon of Manchester and support it. And they would have gone too. The shame is that they were prevented from getting there by a strike at Brussels airport. Does no one care about inconveniencing the public these days?

• No blood affiliation to complicate things as members of Ukip seek to find themselves a new leader, but still there is rivalry and tension. Favourite to win is former leader Nigel Farage; but before he can rise again he must beat his rival, the economist Professor Tim Congdon. Also vying for the post is David Campbell Bannerman, whose great uncle was the Liberal prime minister. But those who yearn for more character in our politics will root for the anti-federalist, law-and-order solutions forwarded by the party's former London mayoral candidate, Winston McKenzie. "I understand what it is like to lose your liberty. It's what happened to me when I didn't pay my parking fine," he once told a group of would-be voters. He lost on that occasion. And lost again in May when he took on David Lammy; but that doesn't mean the former boxer is destined to confront disappointment. Politics is timing. It just wasn't his time back then.

• Though we shy away from intruding on private squabbles, there does appear to be discord at the Lady magazine, whose publisher accuses the editor Rachel Johnson of being preoccupied with sex as a way of increasing circulation. As if to address this, the magazine this week turns its attention to politics. Jilly Cooper gives her assessment. David or Ed? "I think Ed is much more attractive," says Jilly. What of the Tories? "I haven't met David Cameron but evidently he's very very nice and he's very happily married and touched with tragedy so I would say there is definite potential there. I think he should always have a sun tan, though, and he ought to grow his hair a bit longer, because he needs Portuguese curls, and he should definitely get a dog." Fancy a bit of chancellor, Jilly? No. "He looks too tidy. A bit like a school prefect. He'd definitely fold his clothes before he got into bed ..." That went quite well. Next week, finance and banking.